This was a long day at the shop. It wasn’t much longer than the rest, but since we’re getting so close, it feels like it’s taking forever.

The main goal for this weekend was getting the 110 volt system working. This means getting the 72 volt charger installed into the car and wired to the battery pack (not simply clamped as it was before), get the 12 volt charger wired to the accessory battery and getting the fluid heater and pump installed so I can have heat.

The day started with some shopping. The local stores here didn’t have the parts I wanted so I was forced to go to The Home Depot. I really dislike this place.

We spent about an hour wandering around the store trying to find the parts we needed. Of course no one was available to help us out – and that was probably for the best.

We then had to go over to AutoZone to try and find a few more parts. We were there for about 15 minutes when I needed some help. Naturally I asked one of the guys wearing an AutoZone shirt for some help and his response “sorry, I’m not really much of a mechanic” shouldn’t have surprised me as much as it did. We left AutoZone empty handed and decided to go back to Skowhegan and deal with people who know what they are doing.

I’d been planning this system all week at work and had a pretty good idea of how I wanted it to function. The car would connect to a 110 volt outlet by means of a retractable extension cord that would be mounted in the trunk with the cord running out through the gas cap. The main charger would be wired directly to this and would have a timed switch run to the passenger compartment so I could limit the charge time (it’s not an automatic charger so it must be manually turned on/off). The fluid heater would be wired to the 110 volt and would have a toggle switch mounted on the heater control panel to turn it on and off. The fluid pump would be wired to the accessory battery and would be turned on by turning the heater fan on. Finally, the 12 volt charger would also be wired to the 110 volt and would stretch to the accessory battery and would be “always on” when the car was plugged in. I will work on drawing a diagram this week and will get that posted as well.

First was preparing all of the components to be hard wired into the car. This meant cutting the plugs off of all the components. I was a bit nervous to do this cause there’s really no turning back. However, it needed to be done. From here there was just a bunch of soldering and running wires. Once I get the diagram posted it will be a bit more clear.

We ended the day having everything wired in the car and ready to be wired to the 110 volt inside the car. It was late, so my brother and I packed up and headed home.